The Parliamentary Standing Committee on 'Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011' has proposed to raise the age under which consensual sex should be considered as rape from 16 years to 18 years.
Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) reads that 'rape will be committed with or without consent when the woman is under 16 years of age'.
However, the committee felt that 'once the age of the childhas been specified as 18 years, the element of consent should be treated as irrelevant upto this age'.
It also added that This would be in consonance with the country’s commitments towards UNCRC and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.
Terming that Women and Child development ministry’s contention that age of consent be kept at '16 years' cannot be considered as 'correct', the committee suggested that 'provisos to the clauses 3 and 7 of the proposed bill should be deleted to protect the rights of the child and for the sake of protecting children against abuse'.
This, even as the ministry justified keeping the age of consent at 16 years consistent with the provisions of section 375 and 377 of the IPC and pointed to the emerging social reality regarding awareness, understanding an exposure of the adolocents, the committee suggested increase in the age.
Stressing on the need of module on 'sex education' in the school education system, the committee suggested that those involved in bringing up the children have to be sensitized about the vulnerability of children and need for protecting them from sexual offences.